Old Pond publishing days

New book from Paul Heiney - his life farming with horses

Farm Fatale, Paul Heiney. Hardback 234 x 156 mm, 200 pages inc. 14 line illustrations. ISBN 978-1-900318-44-0 (Excellent Press). Now in stock at Old Pond at £12.99.

In the early 1990s Paul Heiney set aside his broadcasting career and swapped it for a life on the land. He decided that he would start his own farm and it would be like no other farm you could find.

Shunning modern intensive methods, he reverted instead to a system of farming that his great grandparents would have known. He ploughed, sowed, reaped and mowed with cart horses rather than tractors, employing mighty Suffolk Punches that were once the workhorses of agriculture in the eastern counties.

He gathered round him a small band of local and aged helping hands to help steer him through the up and downs of farming life; along with a collection of native breeds of cattle, sheep and pigs that had found no place in modern food production but which he thought would be very much at home on his farm.

Although he was prepared for the hard work that would follow, Paul could never have guessed how the story of this little farm would unfold. His life became overwhelmed by all the disasters and rewards that a farming life can bring; his livestock showed him little respect – and took every opportunity to remind him who was really in charge.

This book, awash with not only blood, sweat and tears but a great deal of good humour, tells a story of the changing seasons in the countryside seen through the eyes of a man in determined pursuit of a dream.

Paul is a well-known writer and broadcaster in the UK and over 30 years has appeared on all Britain's major radio and television networks. You can currently see him each week on ‘Countrywise’. He spent seven years on BBC1's top-rated show, ‘Watchdog’, developing a career in consumer journalism that had begun with ‘That's Life’ in 1978, and continued later with Radio 4's ‘You and Yours’.

Despite his very busy life, Paul found time in 1993 to create Harnessed to the Plough, a highly successful programme in which you see the life of Roger and Cheryl Clark farming with Percherons and Suffolk Punches. This is available as a DVD from Old Pond, as are five other programmes, four of which were made for ITV Anglia. All these DVDs, as well as the Old Pond book The Traditional Farming YearThe Traditional Farming Year, reflect Paul’s deep feeling for our rural past.

Paul lives in Suffolk and is married to broadcaster Libby Purves. He is an enthusiastic ocean sailor.

Patrick Barkham's Guide to British Butterflies DVD advance information

Patrick Barkham’s Guide to British Butterflies, Produced by Bill Smith of Great Takes TV. 2-DVD set, approx 3½ hours. ISBN 978-1-908397-57-7. Now available from Old Pond at £24.95 inc. VAT.

Patrick Barkham’s book The Butterfly Isles – an account of his quest to see all Britain’s 57 species of butterfly in a single year – was a publishing sensation. I bought it at Christmas 2010 and couldn’t put it down.

Now Patrick has re-lived his remarkable year, travelling the length and breadth of the country, from the Isle of Wight to the Highlands of Scotland, to present this unique guide to British butterflies. All the butterfly species have been beautifully filmed in their natural habitat, but this is much more than a basic identification guide.

There’s a separate film devoted to each species, in which Patrick provides a historical perspective; how the early naturalists discovered, described and named the butterfly in question, and how its distribution has changed over the years. There’s a detailed description of the butterfly itself, both male and female, how to identify them and where to find them.

Close-up comparisons are provided where confusions exist between similar species. For several of the iconic species, such as large blue, purple emperor and brown hairstreak Patrick interviews leading experts in their field including Professor Jeremy Thomas and Matthew Oates of the National Trust.

The DVD also contains chapters on migrants and vagrants, those rare species that are occasionally seen in this country, and advice for new butterfly enthusiasts about how best to pursue their interest. The result is the most comprehensive and professionally produced film yet made about our wonderful British butterflies.

The producer, Bill Smith, has had a lifelong interest in butterflies. After a long career as a television producer and cameraman for both BBC and ITV, he has spent the last two years filming all the butterfly species, and working with Patrick to develop this DVD.  He will be known to Old Pond customers for his work with Paul Heiney on programmes such as A Victorian Summer and Secret Rivers.

New Claas combines DVD from Tractor Barn now in stock

Top of the Claas: from SF to Lexion 780, Tractor Barn's new combine harvesters DVD by Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam is now in stock. Most of the filming is by Jonathan, with some Claas footage of the 780 as well. For further details from distributors Old Pond and to order online see here.

Old Pond at the 10th Newark Vintage Tractor & Heritage Show

This weekend, as in previous Newark Tractor Shows, you will find Old Pond's stand in the Newark pavilion right up by the Red Gate. We have a slightly larger stand this year with even more books and DVDs available. On Saturday afternoon we will be joined by Tony Thomas signing copies of his new book, Flying the Flag: my career with Leyland and Marshall Tractors.

Bulkhaul 3 new DVD from Connock & Phippard advance information

Bulkhaul Volume 3, Pete Connock and Martin Phippard (CP Productions). DVD approx 70 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-52-2. Now in stock at Old Pond at £16.95 inc. VAT.

The third in CP’s popular Bulkhaul series is an international programme offering something for everyone fascinated by bulk haulage operations.

Pete Connock and Martin Phippard include features on an unusual MAN and four-axle semi-trailer with two tipping bodies used in Southern Sweden and an impressive Scania 8-wheel tipper employed to haul biomass fuel for Scot Heating based in Stirling, Scotland. Pete and Martin also show a stunning Volvo XXL bulk tanker drawbar outfit working in the snow and ice of a Finnish winter and an interesting Volvo FM rigid and drawbar tipper operated by HN Sillifant & Son from Cornwall.

The programme concludes with unique footage of five-trailer road-train combinations working in a vast coal mine in Queensland, Australia. Grossing around 480 tonnes and measuring almost 70 metres (230 feet) overall, these leviathans require the services of a Kenworth C-500 tractor at the front end and powered axles located in the third trailer. Spectacular is a word often over-used, but NOT in this instance!

Pete Connock and Martin Phippard have been making trucking programmes for nearly twenty years. Their fully researched and narrated DVDs are aimed squarely at fellow trucking enthusiasts. More of their DVDs can be found in the Truck DVDs from CP section of the Old Pond website.

Change of staff at Old Pond Publishing

Jennie Johnson has now joined Old Pond as sales and marketing executive. A Nottingham University graduate, Jennie has previously marketed books for Routledge - Taylor & Francis. She can be reached on [email protected].

Heather Jarrold, who was with Old Pond for seven years, has moved to the marketing department of a large construction company.

Opencast Images photographs of British Coal Opencast sites new book now in stock

The 'Ace of Spades' and 'Big Geordie' draglines are among the many earthmoving machines photographed by Dave Wootton from 1986 to 1994. He captured them on some 32 surface coal mines in the midlands and north of England and south Wales. Some 230 of these fine shots - including panoramas of the mines - are included in his new book.

Opencast Images: an Informal Look at British Coal Opencast Sites 1986-1994 is now available in hardback from Old Pond at £24.95. Full information about the book is given at the same link.

Coal industry expert and author Keith Haddock, whose latest book, Modern Earthmoving Machines, was published in America by Iconografix earlier this year, has seen a copy of Dave Wootton's book. He has some enthusiastic comments:

"For anyone remotely connected with the British opencast coal scene, this book is an absolute ‘must’. I particularly like the clear panoramic site views used wherever possible.  I also appreciate that Dave notes the dates of each of his site visits.  That is useful information for research to tie in various aspects of a site, machine relocations, etc. All-in-all, ‘Opencast Images’ is a wonderful pictorial view of the British opencast scene.  I can’t find anything to criticize about it." 

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery 1970-77 DVD now in stock

In the second of their three DVDs about MF implements and machines, George French and Dennis Burston offer 36 items that you would have seen at work on farms in the period 1970-77. They start with a 40 2-furrow plough coupled to an MF 135 and end with a 515 combine, and there is a wide range of equipment (and tractors) in between. All the filming is new, recorded in 2011 and 2012, and as usual there is a full commentary.

Massey Ferguson Farm Implements and Machinery Part 2 1970-77 is now available from Old Pond at £16.95 (inc. VAT)

New Claas combine harvesters DVD advance information

Top of the Claas: from SF to Lexion 780, Stephen Richmond and Jonathan Whitlam (Tractor Barn). DVD, approx 90 minutes. ISBN 978-1-908397-49-2. To be released November, distributed by Old Pond at £16.95 inc VAT.

 Information and advance orders: [email protected].

German farm machinery manufacturer Claas has been producing self-propelled combine harvesters since the 1950s. In this programme we chart the story of the various Claas combine models from the very first SF type to the latest, top-of-the-range Lexion 780.

Mainly concentrating on the bigger models in each range, the story develops over the decades as we see machines at work still gathering in the cereal harvest many years after they were produced.

Models featured include the Matador Giant, Senator 70, Dominator 85, Commandor 115CS, Lexion 480, 600, 770 and many more besides.

Four smaller Lexion combines are shown at work in one field in Lancashire while a similar output is achieved by a sole Lexion 770 model in Suffolk, and we also see how the combines are moved around from field to field and prepared for different crops.

The story is brought bang up to date as we watch the Lexion 770 break the world record for harvesting the most wheat in an eight-hour period in 2011 and then the introduction of an even larger combine – the  Lexion 780 in 2012, a machine that without doubt deserves the title of Top Of The Claas.

Seddon Atkinson by Patrick W Dyer new book advance information

Seddon Atkinson at Work: 400, 401 & 4-11, Patrick W Dyer. Hardback book, 210 x 265 mm (landscape), 144 pages inc. 208 photographs. ISBN 978-1-908397-43-0. Now available from Old Pond at £19.95.

In 1970, Oldham-based Seddon took over the struggling Atkinson, based in Preston, merging two of the greatest companies in British truck manufacturing. It was a partnership that would later see substantial backing from International Harvester in the mutually beneficial takeover of 1974.

In this book Patrick Dyer looks at Seddon Atkinson’s premium range from the period 1975–88. The new range, which began as the 400, was designed to provide a British-built alternative to the European products – led by Volvo and Scania – that were dominating the market at the time.

Equipped with a luxurious tilt cab made of steel and strong drivelines comprising proven proprietary components, the 400 was an immediate hit and soon took the top spot for heavy-weight trucks in the UK. The 401, introduced in 1981, sparked an evolution process with Seddon Atkinson producing a truck that included new features suggested by drivers. The 4-11 saw production through to its end in 1988.

The book charts the development of the 400, 401 and 4-11 over the thirteen years of production. The fine selection of photographs, a quarter of which were sourced from the Seddon Atkinson Historic Archive, is supported by Patrick Dyer’s informative text.

Although Patrick Dyer’s day job is in motor sport, he holds a Class One licence and drives whenever the opportunity arises. Patrick grew up during one of the most notable and exciting periods of development for heavy trucks and also the last of the real glory days for trucking as an industry. This is reflected in his subject matter. His previous books covered the LB110, 111 and 141 from Scania, the 2800, 3300 and 3600 from DAF, the Ford Transcontinental and the F88 and F89 from Volvo. They are all available on the Trucks and Heavy Loads section of the Old Pond website.